Eye For An Eye
by TheUndyingCrystal
Summary: Cynthia Gordon was one of ShinRa's smartest researchers and inventors until they betrayed her and put her in a wheelchair. She now fights back against them as Oracle. In a world where Cloud is dead and a female Sephiroth clone rampages mercilessly, choices and sacrifices will be made. :Takes place alongside K Entertainment's story, No More Self Inserts: Final Fantasy VII:
1. Introduction

"I know that."

"Yes."

"…I understand."

"Kel? Who's that?"

"They blew it up?!"

"…"

"What the hell is Barret doing…?"

I put the cell phone down, and took off my glasses to rub my eyes and smooth my long red hair back. I was exhausted and my fingers were sore from typing.

A glance at the clock informed me it was 3:00 in the morning. I had spent almost all night going through garbled reports of terrorists destroying the Shinra reactor. AVALANCHE, from the sounds of it.

_WHIRRR!_

I sighed as the wheelchair turned and I shut down my computer monitors. Maybe I'd get some sleep for once.

With some difficulty I climbed from the chair to the bed, using my hands to move my unresponsive legs with effort. Finally I settled in.

"…" I looked out the window, and let out a sigh. The planet seemed so peaceful, but I knew the truth of it. ShinRa exists, and as long as it does…the world would never be safe.

I put my glasses on the nightstand, and closed my eyes. Something told me that this would be the last night I slept comfortably.

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_**Welcome to my first story in a long time! I've been having a difficult time getting over some recent death in the family, so I apologize. I hope keeping up with messaging, reading new releases, and reviewing have lessened the damage I've done.**_

_**Anyway, this story takes place right alongside K Entertainment's newest story, No More Self Inserts: Final Fantasy VII. Cynthia Gordon is a former ShinRa technician and inventor, having built most of their incredibly advanced technology. However, the company decided her usefulness no longer profitable, and she was captured. Her family executed before her eyes, and Cynthia herself shot through the spine and dumped into the ocean, she took it upon herself to combat ShinRa's evil intentions.**_

_**More sides of Kel's story will be released through this, so I'll be attempting to update alongside him.**_

_**Have fun reading!**_


	2. Interrogation and Arrival At Midgar

"And you're sure of this?" I smiled, holding the screaming man by his ankle over the ledge.

"Y-YES! Please! I-I was h-hired to steal it! A woman!" He screamed in terror.

"Her name, Tom." I continued slowly and calmly.

"O-Oracle! She was in a wheelchair! She said her n-name was Oracle!" He finally responded in fear.

I narrowed my eyes.

"Is that all?" I tightened my grip. The sounds of his heel bone shattering echoed across the bridge and waterway.

"AGHH! YES! PLEASE LET ME GO!" He broke down in pathetic blubbering.

"Hmmm…alright." I fulfilled his request, and couldn't resist cracking an evil smile as I heard the sound of his skull cracking open as it slammed into the shallow water.

I pulled out a cell phone, and quickly typed a couple numbers into the keypad.

"…It's me. Yeah, as we suspected. The thief was hired by Oracle, but we're no closer to finding her, or her identity." I spoke into the small piece of tech.

"_...Disappointing, but expected. She's proven to be a formidable foe and a dangerous nuisance for the company for a long time. How much did she take?_" He responded.

"…Twenty million. Three pieces of high quality Materia. Small this time." I responded.

"_...Then it's time. Agent Maleforth, you are to spearhead the effort on apprehending her. Intercepted messages have revealed that she is visiting Midgar tomorrow. The fact that this falls on the same day we have a gigantic shipment of Mako going out doesn't give Management the warm fuzzies._"

"Vicente, no Mako cargo has ever been even damaged during her sabotage attacks. What makes you so sure?" I scratched my head confusedly.

"_Exactly. Maybe she's been waiting for this opportunity to hit us hard. Either way, we aren't taking risks. Oracle is going to be in Midgar. Where, who knows? But she'll be there. That gives us an advantage and a better chance to find her._" His answer was blunt and to the point.

"Alright, alright. I get it. I'll get over there as soon as possible." I rolled my eyes, hung up the phone, and walked off. The militia around here would discover Tom's body soon enough, and I wasn't in the mood to be lynched.

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_My name is Maleforth._

_For twenty years I've served in ShinRa as both a "disciplinary officer" and a professional agent. I've taken care of a lot of contracts._

_I've hunted down enemies to the company, killed innocents, burned homes, destroyed evidence. All that and more._

_But one opponent has eluded me for three years._

_Her name is unknown, her motive unknowable._

_Her only designation "__**Oracle**__"._

_Her apparent vendetta against ShinRa has cost millions of gil, hundreds of men, and much experimenting material._

_My own loyalty to the company compels me to hunt her, and to destroy her._

_Our purposes, our beliefs, and our determination will end one day in confrontation._

_And only one will live._

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"Ah, Cynthia. It's been a long time!" I heard the familiar voice as I wheeled myself off the train.

Frederick Jones awaited my gaze. He used to be a member of AVALANCHE, but retired due to an injury to his knee.

He'd built my wheelchair back when I was in AVALANCHE. He is also a shrewd businessman.

Frederick was and is ignorant of my identity as Oracle, and that is a good thing.

Midgard was a slum, a badly decaying slum.

Slums were full of desperate people.

And desperate people are dangerous people.

"Hey, Fred!" He lifted me upwards slightly in a tight hug, one that I returned happily. It wasn't that I didn't like or trust him…it was just that he was also ex-ShinRa. I can't risk the chance that he might still have connections to the company. He still knows me as Cynthia Wane, an old alias I used back then.

Only three people there know who I am, and they'd never reveal it…hopefully.

"So, what brings you to Midgard?" He offered, and I allowed him to carry my briefcase and luggage. We both started towards the exit of the crowded train station, him carrying my bags and me deftly propelling my chair to keep up with him.

"I see it worked as I hoped." He noted, and I nodded.

"It's a good design, but it does need repairs. I haven't been able to get a good replacement bearing on the pivot, and it's been driving me crazy." I admitted.

"Shouldn't be too difficult. Maybe Barret's got one. We could head over—" He suggested, and I cut him off.

"I'm not talking to him. You can stop trying to mend things." I responded icily.

"It was a long time ago. Things are different now!" He tried to defend him, but I shook my head.

"I've heard enough. Give me my stuff. I'll get to the apartment myself." I folded my arms.

"I—" He began.

"My bag, Frederick." I extended my hand, and he unwillingly handed the bag over.

I wheeled off, my face betraying anger, and left him in the station.

Typical. Just typical.

Frederick has always disapproved of my leaving AVALANCHE, but for different reasons than the group's effectiveness. I was his biggest customer, and my retirement from the group cost him a lot of gil. I thought he was welcoming me back to be nice, but it appears he had ulterior motives from the start.

Is there nobody I can trust here?


	3. SIPA

"…Well yes, sir. I have one of our finest agents on the case right now. Yes, I know Elijah's been pushing for an eradication operation, but Oracle's in our network. It would end disastrously. As soon as SIPA finds and eliminates her, AVALANCHE won't likely be too much of a difficulty to deal with." Vicente explained quickly into the phone.

"_Good. I entrust you and SIPA to deal with the terrorist Oracle with any means necessary._" The reply was relieving but short, and the dial tone was heard.

"Well, that ends that. Soon as we find her, it's lights out for AVALANCHE too." I smiled, flipping a coin in the air.

"Hopefully. I have my doubts." He responded.

"What do you mean!? You just told the president of the ShinRa company himself—" I exclaimed in shock, but he interrupted me.

"SIPA's under a lot of heat right now with this Oracle problem. It's best to give him what he needs to hear. I don't quite trust Hojo either, with his crazy experiments on that poor boy. We keep our mouths shut on anything that the corporation doesn't need to hear." Vicente explained slowly, and I nodded reluctantly in understanding.

"Good. Now, I trust you have data of the gigantic monster that appeared during the ambush on AVALANCHE?" He continued, and I tossed the disk to him.

"Whatever the hell that thing was, it caused a lot of destruction. Dunno where it came from, though." I muttered as he slipped it into his computer. Images of the monstrous creature covered the monitor.

"Ah…hehehe…perfect…ahem. We can deal with that later. You have somewhere to be, now go." He studied them with great relish and enthusiasm, and waved me off. I reluctantly left with a small scowl on my face.

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"Not much, but it's a place to stay." The innkeeper showed me to the room.

It was fairly beaten up, but actually clean and well decorated for a hotel in Midgar.

"I'll take it. Here's for the first week." I tossed him a small purse of gil, and he nodded with glee. After some conversation, I learned his name was Isaac and that he appreciated my patronage, among other things. I politely told him that I wanted to be alone after a few minutes of his inane blabbering.

The moment the door closed, I set about to work.

I opened my bag and set down my multiple laptops on the desk, carefully setting up satellite connections to make things operational here. The second step was setting up multiple hidden cameras at the window to watch for anything suspicious. ShinRa wasn't full of stupid people, and it was best to be prepared.

"Alright. Oracle is online." I slipped an earpiece over my right ear, and spoke into it with little difficulty.

"_Hey, Boss._" The heavily accented voice crackled through moments later.

"Raul, I told you not to call me boss. I'm as far as it gets from a leadership position. I'm management." I smiled as I responded.

"_Of course, Boss. Anyway, I staked out the __**place**__ like you asked. Quiet for a while, but I had to leave after Barret showed up._" He continued as I pulled up multiple camera files of him leading a small group through the area.

A few curses later, mostly directed towards him, I sighed.

"Damn it. So he is responsible for the Weapon appearing in some way. What happened to the safe?" I rubbed my eyes after slipping my glasses off.

"_I don't think so, Boss. He seemed just as surprised as the ShinRa troops were. The safe got beaten up during the explosions, and the combination pad was shattered. It's going to take something strong to get it open now, since the lock is permanently jammed._" He replied quickly.

"Damn it…Mom, Dad…" I whispered, crestfallen at the news.

"_Hey, kid…don't give up yet. It's not my business as to why you want your parent's personal records and files, but I will tell you it's not over. Barret'll be able to blow that sucker open without damaging anything._" Raul tried to reassure me, but I growled in frustration.

"That…barbaric…_bastard_ wouldn't help me if his life depended on it. We'll find another way to get it open, just bring it to me." I seethed.

"_Whoa, Boss, cool down. I know you don't want his help or to see him, but he's still got the Skeleton Key. Why did you leave it with him, anyway? Only you even know how to use it, and he doesn't even know what it is in the first place!_" He issued a quick statement to help me back down.

"…Barret kept it safe. As much as I hate him and his methods…he kept his promise to keep it safe despite not knowing what it does. If ShinRa got ahold of that kind of program, it could be disastrous." My voice was quiet and slow.

The Skeleton Key was a decrypting chip that, once properly calibrated into the right focusing gadget, could open any electronic lock or hack a supercomputer with ease. I almost built the focusing gadget before, but realized the danger of such a thing in existence, and destroyed both the half-built gadget and the blueprints for it. I mailed the tiny, yet extremely dangerous, chip to Barret for safekeeping a month after I left AVALANCHE.

"_Boss, I also wanted to warn you. SIPA's been showing up lately in some of the surveillance files, and not in a good way. So's that agent._" Raul noted worriedly.

"Maleforth." I gritted my teeth in frustration.

The SIPA, or ShinRa Intelligence Protection Agency, was designed precisely to eradicate terrorists and eliminate certain "undesirables" like AVALANCHE. And me. For a long time they'd hounded me, and I barely manage to keep ahead of them at times. Maleforth was their top agent, and was the one assigned to find me, that much I knew. However, their leader's identity remains completely unknown to me, even to this day. All that I know is that he is close friends with both ShinRa's president and his son Rufus.

"I've…I've got to go, Raul. I…want you to find Barret. Get the chip back, but don't linger. After you do that…find Finn." I sighed after some thought, and clicked the receiver, ignoring his sudden protests at the name. Tossing the earpiece down, I ran a hand through my red hair.

_I missed Nibelheim._

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_Hunger_

_Pestilence_

_War_

_Death_

_The four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, beings I know well from living on this wretched planet._

_The violence and degeneration that occurs in the cities daily._

_Midgar is one such city._

_My city._

_As I watch a gang of five men corner a young woman in an alley, images of my own past distract me. A desperate man. A gunshot in the night. Innocent victims. Pearls. It was always the pearls._

_Even as they force her against a wall and work her pants off, even as they begin gang raping her, I still wonder._

_What would this city be like if monsters such as Rufus Shinra and more never existed? What if ShinRa never existed at all?_

_I look down as they finish their work. Her screams illuminate the night with terror._

_Many things am I, but a savior is not one of them._

_Pity and memories are the only reason I slip down from the rooftop and approach the scene without notice. The first receives a knife in the throat while they toy with their capture. Their yells of anger and belligerence almost make me laugh._

_Over the pained moans of their previous focal point of interest, I deliver punishment and vengeance in the form of knives, death, and terror._

_The four men died gruesome deaths, but nothing I can do can compare to what they have done to this woman._

_I kneel down beside her._

_Blood forms a pool around her body, her gasps of pain and shock echoing throughout the alleyway._

_Her skirt bloodied with the abuse of her virginity and her rape, pity again forces me to slip out a phone. However, I then realize._

_Who do I call?_

_ShinRa?_

_They couldn't care less, even though they "protect" us._

_I hear her begging for help as she clutches her nether area in pain, and I put away my cell phone._

_I pull out two things: in one hand, I have a potion. In the other…a .45 pistol._

_If I heal her, she will likely never recover from the psychological trauma, turn to drugs to ease her pain, and then become another filthy junkie tarnishing the streets. Choices are slim, and little different in the end._

"_W…ho…are…y…ou..?"_

_Her voice is cracked and broken from screaming. I look at her, my mask covering my face and my shame. I raise the .45 as I look at her._

"…_I'm Death."_


	4. William Finn

"So Gordon sent you." I flipped the coin again as he spoke.

"Yeah. Boss said she was going to meet…them. AVALANCHE." Raul responded coolly, settling into his seat comfortably.

"…I see." I turned my head to study a pair of strippers on the stage.

"Oh come on, man, not now! This is important!" Raul complained irritably.

"It's _always_ important with Cynthia. Not my fault she never gets any." I growled with an annoyed tone.

"Okay, bashing on the girl in the wheelchair is a low blow. A really low blow." He snapped at me angrily, and I flipped the coin again.

"Let's make a bet. One or both of those girls are actually SIPA agents in disguise, probably both. I'll bet you two thousand gil on it." I changed the subject abruptly, staring at them.

"Them? How the hell would you figure?!" Raul exclaimed in shock.

"They aren't used to the job. I can tell when someone's trying to fake it, and both of them are. They've likely been trying to listen to our conversation for the last five minutes, since the recording device under our table is broken." I explained, and he looked at me incredulously.

"Now, if you'll excuse me." I stood from the table, and casually began walking towards the two undercover strippers.

"Hey there, big boy…" One of them flirted, but I knew their game. Everything they were doing was completely pointless now that I knew they were spies, and they knew it.

"You have five seconds to tell me who _he_ is and where _he _is, before I butcher both of you." I whispered in her ear, and I felt her tremble briefly as I pushed her away.

The two slipped out guns from the bar, and pointed them at me.

"As if, jackass. How about you tell us where Oracle is, and then we shoot you?" She smiled evilly, and I sighed with a smile.

"Always the hard way." I slipped out a thin, crescent shaped piece of metal, and held it up.

"What is that? Put it down!" She ordered angrily, and I let out another scoff.

"You had your chance." I pressed the button on the crescent, and in seconds it unfolded into a very large and silver scythe.

Before either of them could react, I had bisected one and taken one of the other's legs off.

"AGHHH!" She screamed as blood gushed from her new wound, and I pulled out my .45 and pointed it at her.

"Who is _he_?" I asked quietly as she began coughing up blood.

"…Ron…ald…V…i…ncente…Gor…" She died before her sentence was finished, leaving me none the wiser on his identity other than the name Ronald Vicente, and part of the last word, Gor.

The leader of SIPA. Our enemy, as the Turks are to AVALANCHE. ShinRa's intelligence faction, dedicated to annihilating us remnants of the past.

"You done over there, Finn? I've still got a lot of work to do to set up the mission." Raul called from his seat, apparently finishing his meal.

"…Yeah." I answered with one last look at her corpse.

"Good. The boss told me to tell you to meet up in the old sector 06 warehouse. She'll brief you herself there." He let out a sigh of relief at my complacency.

"I'll be there." I opened the door and left Raul in the deserted and blood-splattered strip club.


	5. The Four Horsemen

_When the SOLDIER Project began, President Shinra specified a powerful fighting force that would follow orders without question._

_Hojo was happy to oblige._

_Dozens upon hundreds upon thousands of failed experiments later, beings like Sephiroth and Genesis were made, 1__st__ Class material._

_What am I? What were we?_

_We were the first._

_The first to undergo the Mako testing._

_We were the Originals._

_Four of us, under the constant surveillance by ShinRa scientists and guards._

_My name is William Finn, former sniper and test subject. My codename was Ace of Spades._

_The second was Germund Jackson, wounded field scientist and test subject. His codename was Jack of Cloves._

_The third, Meredith Dent, was a test subject in countless biological weaponry experiments. Her codename was the Jester._

_Fourth came Thelonius Caesar. He was a twenty year veteran shock trooper and mercenary, obsessed with battle and killing. His codename was King of Hearts. _

_Exposed to a highly advanced and purified form of Mako, we immediately proved to be what they were looking for…at first._

_Our already master-level combat abilities heightened to unimaginable power._

_Then we started displaying supernatural abilities._

_I found myself able to take bullets to the head, decapitation, any fatal wound dealt to me, and I would survive. But I was also able to channel this energy into my own weapon; I was able to unleash Death itself._

_Germund was able to infect anyone with diseases that were unheard of, almost impossibly deadly ones. Those already with a disease or virus would find their symptoms magnified just being around them. He had the essence of Pestilence._

_Meredith displayed a level of insatiable hunger that had never been seen before. Anything would almost degrade if she so chose, food decaying into nothing but dust and steel itself fading into nothingness. She could absorb life around her to charge her abilities. She wielded the pure misery of Famine._

_Thelonius was the last to exhibit his powers. He exuded a miasma around him that caused people to become angry, aggressive, and very dangerous if he magnified it. He also gained a level of regeneration and pain threshold that was more than superhuman. He could take shotgun shells to the face without flinching, and look none the worse for it in five minutes. A side effect of these powers resulted in a constant lust for battle; he enjoyed the killing more than anything else. He had gained the unending fury of War._

_When we exhibited these gifts, the President immediately ordered us to carry out an assassination and assault on a terrorist facility. We killed thirty people before realizing that they were far from being AVALANCHE…they were innocents; women and children who posed no threat to ShinRa._

_Germund and I refused to finish the mission out of what morality we had left. Meredith and Thelonius refused out of boredom with their defenseless victims._

_Our deaths were ordered, and an army of highly trained ShinRa soldiers attacked us as soon as we left the building._

_With almost no effort, we annihilated them all._

_Declaring our resignations from the company, we would face their later experiments in battle for many years._

_Thelonius in particular bears the bragging rights to having fought off Genesis himself, with no help at all._

_We became known as the Four Horsemen when we openly took arms against the company after we tired of their constant attempts to kill us._

_After two years we left each other after tensions flared between us. We separately waged our own wars against ShinRa for a long time._

_I worked as a mercenary for a year and a half until I met Oracle._

_Cynthia Gordon had her own grudge to bear against ShinRa's tyrannical methods._

_After much convincing from her, I joined her and chose to help._

_And for a long time, that's exactly what I've done._

"It's been too long…Finn…" I heard the raspy voice of Germund.

"Germund. She called you here, too?" I turned to face him. He was dressed in ragged and old armor, with swamp-like features to it like moss and bark. He wore a mask made of diseased wood, covering his face.

"I assume you know about the plan? To drop Sector 07?" Meredith landed on the ground next to me on her feet. She was dressed in white armor that gave her the appearance of a severely starved woman, and her mask was white and made of dead life.

"Her message…was incoherent…but she is with Subject…Zero…" Thelonius growled impatiently a short distance away. He wore extremely heavy and thick silver-colored armor, his mask an enormous knight's helm. On his back he wore a gigantic greatsword that dwarfed even the buster swords of SOLDIER. Thelonius dwarfed all of us in terms of size, being twice the height of even me.

At the mention of the term "Subject Zero" we all laughed.

"Zero…as if…" Germund wheezed.

"Anyway, since we're all here…we might as well try to contact her again. Perhaps our mission will be more clearly defined when we do." I finished, and slipped out a small circular purple-black object, clicked the button on it, and tossed it into the center.

It opened up, to our relief, and a green holographic projection of Cynthia was shown, albeit battered. We gave each other a sideways glance as she spoke.

"Sorry for *GZZT* delay! I've*GZZT*trying to get ahold of you since Don's place! Can't talk long*GZZZT*! SIPA's cutting communications while*GZZT* trying to evacuate! They're ejecting Sector 07's plate to crush *GZZT* the resistance in the slums! I intercepted a communication, and Maleforth's going to assassinate Kel and the others before *GZZT* can stop the ejection! You have to stop him, or we're not getting out of here! Can't*GZZZZZZZZT*…" It cut out at the end, and the room went dark. A full minute of silence passed.

"Let's go, then." I finally spoke, and they agreed.

"Meredith, you track Kel's position. Thelonius…kill every ShinRa soldier you can find to ensure they get out. Germund will find Maleforth. The most effective place to keep a sniper on the tower is Starrware's building. It's tall enough to keep a sight on it." I quickly gave out orders as each of us began sprinting towards the door.

"What about you, Finn?" Meredith asked curiously.

"I'm going to find the Corneo. He's got a lot of explaining to do." My voice darkened as I opened the garage door.

Four horses awaited us, as I expected.

The first was mine, an entirely black skeletal horse glowing with darkness and red eyes. I called him Dirge, for the undying horse was dangerous in its own right.

The second belonged to Germund, and the greenish horse looked like it had just been in a swamp for a century or two, covered in moss and bark. He was called Pandemic, and shared many of his abilities.

Meredith's was deep grey, and the steed looked like it hadn't had food in a long, long time. She called it Hunger, and the name rang true to her nature.

Finally, Thelonius' was bright red-colored, and almost entirely covered in silver armor like his. He called it Strife, and the horse had a temper to match his.

We mounted our horses and, after a nod from me, rode off towards our particular destinations.

Twenty minutes until ShinRa was scheduled to collapse the plate and destroy all of Sector 07, according to Oracle.

Not much time…for normal people.

"Let's go, Dirge!" I nudged, and the undead horse quickened its sprinting towards the sector.

Little did any of us know, this was the beginning of the end.


	6. Interrogation

I crashed the door open, knocking out two of his new guards in the process, and walked leisurely towards the pompous buffoon.

"Corneo, you slime…where's Vicente?" I growled menacingly, and drew a disk out of my pocket. With a single twitch, it unfolded into a full length silver scythe.

"V-Vicente?! Who's Vicente?!" The Don cried in terror, and I roared at him in impatience.

"THE LEADER OF SIPA! WHERE IS HE?" I roared, the room darkening and the walls creaking.

"I don't know! I swear, he contacted me!" He was thrown out of his chair and onto the ground.

"WHERE IS HE?!" I kicked him in the side, and a glass decoration nearby shattered into pieces. Several objects in his room were breaking and crumbling along with it.

"P-Please…don't…kill me!" He whimpered, spitting blood on the tiled floor.

"…You know something about SIPA's involvement here with the plate dropping! The fact that Vicente is a personal advisor and confidant to the president of ShinRa is obvious enough!" I slashed a couch in half nearby with my scythe, venting my frustration with the fat and vain leader.

"I know you were getting ready to escape to Wutai after the others came in to interrogate you!" I continued, gesturing to the choice of decoration.

"…Others?" He whimpered in a confused tone.

"The woman in the wheelchair. The ex-ShinRa scientist." I leaned down and growled in his face.

"Y-You're…th…that was Oracle, wasn't it?" He shrunk back, the sight of my appearance terrifying.

"Lucky guess, Don. Last chance. Where is this Vicente?" I gripped him by the throat, and he gasped as I easily lifted the fat man up with one hand.

"Y…you don't know? Ronald…Vicente…Gordon…?" He whispered with a suddenly smug tone, realizing who Oracle really was.

"Gordon's dead. You're lying, Don!" I roared in his face again, and the room darkened.

"He…orchestrated the attack and assassination of…the Gordon family…to fake his death…" He managed to choke out, and I let him go.

"What are you? WHAT ARE YOU?!" He screamed in terror, as I turned away.

"I'm ShinRa's reckoning." I answered with a sudden smile as the sounds of explosions and fighting echoed throughout the Market.

Footsteps nearing the door were growing louder, and I sheathed my scythe. It was time I met my mysterious fellow intruder.

Turning to face the Don, I lower my voice to a growl.

"I better not find out you withheld any information…and if I do, the Turks and AVALANCHE are the least you'll have to worry about." I told him with a menacing voice, and waited for the arrival of either Corneo's guards, or new intruders.

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_**After Kel's group encounters Finn interrogating the Don.**_

As Cynthia and the others left, I held him up by his neck again.

"A-Are you going to kill me?" He whimpered pathetically, and I let out an echoing laugh.

"No…not yet, anyway." My free hand rose, and purple energy exploded from it.

Dirge appeared from a portal of black flame, and I put the Don on his back.

"Freeze!" Two ShinRa soldiers were pointing their rifles at me.

"Well, I lack the ice abilities you want me to use." I responded sarcastically, and I could hear their angry murmurs.

"Drop the weapon and…dismiss your skeletal horse!" He ordered impatiently.

"I'm going to have to tell you that I cannot agree to your request. You see, I have a man to execute." I turned to face them and took off my mask, revealing my true face. They immediately shuddered in nervous fright.

"You think those bullets will even slow me down…?" I started walking towards them, and they quickly opened fire.

Despite the bullets peppering my entire body, I was still walking calmly towards them. At the last moment, I phased behind them and smiled.

"There is no hope…only despair." The last words they heard as I cleaved both of them in half in less than a second went unheard as they fell apart.

Striding back to the horse, I mounted it and ensured the Don wasn't going to try to escape at the last minute. Taking out my cell phone, I tap a few numbers into it and wait for the dial tone.

"This is Death. I have the Don ready."


	7. Tracking Kel and the Standoff

I tugged the reins harder, and Hunger quickened his sprint even more.

Kel was in the midst of hurrying through the support gates into the tower.

"Death, this is Famine. He's in the tower, and I can't follow without being seen." I pulled a phone out and spoke into it.

"…Go help Germund, then. Thelonius has the ShinRa reinforcements covered." His voice crackled through, and I heard dial tones moments later.

"Damn it. SIPA's closing in." I looked up at Starrware, and nudged Hunger.

"Let's go!" I yelled with a smile, and we were already galloping towards the building.

There wouldn't be nearly enough time to climb all the way up. Not that it was a problem at this point.

With a simple pull of the reins Hunger was galloping on the walls of the complex, climbing the ten story-high building with ease.

Hopefully Germund was on his way, or was there already.

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"Maleforth! Enough of this madness!" Just as I leapt up onto the roof, Germund's strong but old voice echoed past the winds.

"Madness? The only madness here is the destruction and chaos AVALANCHE has caused!" He roared in response, the SIPA agent wielding a hefty sniper rifle.

He wore a long black trench coat with ShinRa's insignia on it, and his expression was one of hatred.

"You can't beat both of us, kid." I called out as I landed next to Germund.

"Oh really? We'll see about that." He put the rifle down on the case next to him, and slipped his hand into his trench coat.

"Take him!" Germund yelled quickly, and we both lunged towards him. Germund wielded three knives made of swamp wood in both hands, his profession as a martial artist clear through his movements. I only needed the power of decay and famine, energy pulsing through my hands.

"The Originals are old and forgotten. Now DIE old and forgotten!" We both let out a gasp of shock as he drew a katana from his coat and slashed quickly, sending both of us flying back.

While Germund landed on the roof, I was thrown completely off.

"Damn it…" I muttered as I fell. Germund…would have to do this alone.

Turning my head, I smiled as I saw a crowd of ShinRa soldiers. At least this defeat wouldn't go unrewarded.

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"…What the hell happened to her?" Soldiers gathered around the body of a woman in strange white armor, she apparently having fallen from somewhere.

"Who knows? Leave her, because we've got to get outta here." Their leader brushed off the question dismissively.

"Now, now…is that any way to treat a lady?" They looked down, only to find an empty crater where the body was.

Two soldiers suddenly collapsed, knives burrowed in their throats.

"Agghh!" Some of the others gasped in shock, obviously new and just out of training. Their commanders tried to restore order, I taking the time to give them more knives and dead bodies, but it soon became clear that it was every man for himself.

"Runnn! She's a monster!" The soldiers began scattering, and gunfire echoed throughout the alley as they accidentally shot each other one by one.

"As fun as this game is, I have work to do." I slowly rose my arms, and my eyes began glowing. The ground began decaying, the dead bodies shriveling into dust, the roads weakening and breaking, even the metal of the buildings rusting and shattering under my power. The field of decay easily consumed the still living soldiers, and left nothing but marred skeletons.

As I surveyed my handiwork, I slipped out my cellphone.

"This is Famine. I'm done."


	8. Confrontation

I hopped up on the roof just in time.

Maleforth was on the other side, the sniper rifle readied and pointing towards the plate control tower. He wore a long black trench coat with the ShinRa symbol on it, and was also covered in military markings and rank marking.

I slipped onto the water conditioner above him, and landed a flying kick across the back of his head.

"Agh! You son of a—" He fired off a shot from the recoil of the kick, and swung the heavy gun around to fend me off.

I easily jumped back, and extended my knives.

"Maleforth! Enough of this madness!" I yelled over the wind and over the noise of explosions. I saw Meredith arrive as well, having travelled up the wall with her steed to catch up with me.

"Madness? The only madness here is the destruction AVALANCHE has caused!" He roared back at me, his expression full of hatred.

"You can't beat us both, kid." Meredith joined me and drew her knives.

"Oh really? We'll see about that." He put the rifle down on the case, and his gloved hand slipped into his trench coat.

"Take him!" I yelled, and we both lunged towards him. It was a bad mistake.

"The Originals are old and forgotten! Now DIE old and forgotten!" He slashed both of us with a long silver katana, sending me into the wall.

Meredith was thrown off the edge by the blow, and she began the long fall of ten stories off Starrware.

"Arrrrghh!" I looked up to find Maleforth preparing another blow.

"That only works once, that kind of attack, y'know." I gave him a heavy kick to the stomach, pushing him back and allowing me to get back on my feet.

"Just tell me one thing, Maleforth… is it true, what I've heard? About this Vicente. Who is he?" I straightened my ghillie suit-like coat as I prepared myself.

"You already know, don't you? Oracle…or should I say Cynthia…she's the one who started this. Even if it's her father who will end this." He grinned knowingly, and twirled his katana in preparation.

"What are you talking about?" I didn't understand, and I couldn't let that unbalance me.

"The bitch you're working for is your enemy's DAUGHTER!" He roared, leaping impossibly high in a falling lunge, one that would certainly cut a man in half with that kind of sword.

I barely managed to jump to the side in time as he buried the katana into the concrete itself. Noticing that he was trying to get the stuck blade out, I took the opportunity to kick him away from the blade and towards the edge.

"Sorry, kid, but you're not killing anyone today." I shrugged, snapping the katana in half and tossing it over the edge.

"Hell I'm not!" He grabbed his sniper rifle and managed to pull the trigger just as I reached him, the bullet burrowing deep into my skull and pushing me back and sprawling on the ground.

"…" I looked up, and just barely saw Kel and his friends cornering Reno only a few hundred feet away in the plate control tower.

"Here…we…go." Maleforth aimed the sniper rifle, the reticule straight at Kel's head, and took a deep breath as he prepared to pull the trigger.

"Not so fast, sonny!" I was up on my feet and tugging at his sniper rifle in less than a second, knowing that unless he had total concentration Maleforth would have almost no chance to hit his target.

"Get…mmmph!...off!" He let go at the wrong time, and I turned the sniper rifle on him. As he charged blindly at me, the wind in his face and hiding the fact that I had the rifle, I rose the gun.

…_Do I want this…?_

_Did I ever want this?_

_Killing the young? The innocent?_

_Can I bear this guilt and this burden anymore?_

I was unable to open my eyes as I fired, putting three bullets into his chest. When I did open them, the last thing I saw was his body toppling over the edge. I ran to the ledge to try to grab him, but his lifeless eyes at that moment forced me to stop as Maleforth fell 10 stories down Starrware into the alleyways.

I dropped the sniper rifle in quiet disgust, and dropped to my knees.

"…" I closed my eyes, unable to erase the sight of his eyes from my mind.

Despite all the people I've killed, despite all the good we've done…I knew I would never forget the look in his eyes.

It was with heavy heart I slipped out my cell phone.

"…This…this is Pestilence. Maleforth is dead…Kel is saved…Kel is saved." I whispered the words into the phone just barely.


	9. Destroying the Sector 07 Base

"THIS IS MUCH TOO EASY! ALL OF THESE PEOPLE ARE PATHETIC!" I roared in crazed laughter as I cut through another squad of ShinRa soldiers, adding another pile of corpses to the already growing mountain.

Their primary military base was evacuating, giving me the chance to destroy as many of them as I could.

And so far, that was amounting in the hundreds.

"_Thelonius, remember to set the charges! We can't let any more of them escape, and you can't cover all of the entrances!_" Oracle's voice dulled the moment, but I sighed in compliance. Ignoring the gunfire glancing off my armor, I slowly walked over to the pillar, the only one left supporting the ShinRa squad base in Sector 07, and pressed the grey rectangle of clay-like explosives that Oracle claimed was called "C4" where she came from.

"Time to die!" I heard those defiant words over the screaming and destruction, and turned. A tank awaited my gaze, and the speaker was in the turret.

"Hahahahahaha…you really think that's going to work? Go ahead and see." I chuckled metallically, and spread my arms in mocking embrace.

"Goddamn it, blow that bastard to Hell! FIRE!" He roared angrily, and a puff of smoke from the recoil came out. The shell, barely large than a football, slammed into me with the force of a full-speed train, and shattered the front of my helm.

"AGGGGHHH….That actually stung." I faked a scream, and looked at him menacingly, my burnt face shown to him for the first time.

"O-Oh my…by…God!" I charged forward and brought my fiery greatsword down upon the tank, smashing it into pieces within seconds.

As I stepped back to savor my work, I heard the sounds of whimpering. Turning to look, I saw a ShinRa soldier cowering in a corner.

"P-Please don't kill me…!" He begged me, and I snorted.

"…No sport." I simply responded, and left the sniveling fool to his inevitable death, ironically by the same company he worked for.

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I continued to cut through the streets of Sector 07, slaughtering any ShinRa soldier I saw and leaving the refugees alive. Their deaths were unwarranted by my hand, and they would expire soon enough.

My mission had been complete for the last two hours, since it was only to kill ShinRa soldiers and keep them off the main roads that Finn had been sure that Kel would take.

All that remained was to evacuate myself. Although I was practically immortal by human standards, the last thing I wanted was to spend a few years digging out of the buried plate and crushed sector.

With a huff, I pulled the reins on Strife, and turned the opposite way. With a ear-piercing shriek, and a neigh from the horse, we galloped off towards the exit and away from the danger zone.

I reached into a hidden pocket in Strife's armor, and pulled out a cell phone. Keying in a few number, I quickly called the others.

"This is War. I took care of ShinRa's organized soldier presence left down here."


	10. Making the Move

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_Hello, Citizens!_

_This is a special report from your one true government, the __**Enclave**__!_

_Due to the rapidly increasing amount of sedition and anarchy in the __**Midgar**__ area, our __**President Ronald Vicente Gordon**__ would like to announce that a strict curfew is set for all __**non-military**__ personnel while our __**martial law**__ is under effect._

_We have determined that the cause of the collapse of order here is the result of an attack from the continent and city of __**Wutai**__!_

_Thus, our __**President has declared open war **__against these terrorists!_

_The mastermind behind the plans to punish these foreign terrorists is the famous __**General Elijah**__, the strategic mind behind the __**pacification operation in Midgar's Sector 07**__, and he is quoted as saying "I will not rest until these ninja bastards are put down once and for all!"._

_We request our citizens to not interfere with military operations and movements here, and to cooperate as warmly as possible._

_We will be conducting searches for the known associates of these terrorists, some of whom are listed here: __**Kelvis**__, __**Rally**__,__** Barret**__, __**Lecter**__, __**Shuyan Chao**__, __**Finn**__,__** Meredith**__, __**Germund**__, __**Thelonius**__, and the__** cyberterrorist Oracle**__._

_Any members of __**AVALANCHE**__ are wanted for questioning, and an important hostage they have taken as well._

_This hostage's name is __**Aerith Gainsborough**__._

_Also, our __**President **__would like to remind all citizens to stay out of a three thousand foot radius around __**Mt. Nibel**__. We are not responsible for blowing you to shreds with artillery._

_These are stressful times, but the __**Enclave**__ is here to save the day!_

_Stay safe, Citizens!_

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"The same radio message that's been overriding all of ShinRa's original ones. They've completely hijacked the airways and are ensuring complete control." Meredith muttered as I typed away at the keyboard.

"You've been silent for the entire time we've been here, Cynthia. And it's been two weeks since the Midgar rebellion broke out and Kel disappeared." Finn observed irritably.

"…That's not Kel." I muttered.

"Hmm…?" They gave each other strange looks.

"That Kel is a clone…someone…someone has the real one." I responded clearly, and grew quiet again.

"Look…I'm sorry about your father. I know it's a shock…" Finn sighed, leaning against a wall.

"…We've got a problem." Interrupting Finn, I shifted the computer screen.

"A coastal seaport fifty miles from Wutai was massacred. The few survivors claimed that a group of men in bulky black metal suits and wielding miniguns arrived through a normal-looking yacht and began slaughtering everyone." I clicked the video feed.

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_The camera focused on a couple, both of them young and brightly smiling. The day was sunny and the seaport seemed bustling with activity._

_As the operator of the camera told them to smile, a large armored yacht pulls into the docking area without a permit._

_As port security arrive, they gather around the strip of narrow road that connected the port with the ship._

_A single man, dressed in a long black leather trench coat and a grey uniform underneath, steps out and approaches the security._

_The camera focuses on this scene as the security demand to see licenses for docking and shipping._

_As the glare focuses, the man is revealed as being fairly middle-aged and with slicked-back spiky black hair and with a scar on his face._

_The man responds with something unintelligible as four others step out of the yacht. They wear huge black metal suits that obviously slow their movements, and a gold letter 'E' is emblazoned on their pauldrons and on their chestpiece. Four gas mask tubes connect to a large black metal backpack on each of them from their masks, with glowing yellow goggle pieces._

_Each wields an enormous minigun, and they line up next to the man._

_As the port security draw their weapons and step back, the man raises a gloved hand. Just as one officer fires off his weapon, the man waves his arm down quickly. The .9 mm bullet pings off of one of his armored companions, and the barrels begin rotating._

_Less than two seconds later, a rain of pure death shreds the ten-man security force and rips into bystanders with fatal effect._

_Four snipers reveal themselves from the front of the armored yacht and open fire on the crowd with explosive rounds._

_Blood paints the pathways and bullet holes pepper every single building anywhere near the armored menaces in less than a minute._

_The couple that the cameraman was filming take bullets, the man instantly killed as a stray .5 mm burrows into his skull, and the woman takes several in her leg and back. The camera operator lets out a shriek of pain as the device falls to the ground, and a pool of blood forms around the liquid-resistant device._

_One of the armored men slowly steps over to the area, checking for survivors as the others search their own areas._

_He comes across the convulsing woman, who whispers pleadings of mercy._

_The soldier raises his boot and slams it down, cracking her head open like a raw watermelon against the cobblestone streets._

_Minutes pass before something happens, a young man finding the camera and pointing it at the soldiers in his hiding place._

_Several other soldiers in the black bulky armor have already offloaded from the boat, and continue their hunter-killer duties throughout the chaotic city._

_However, another man steps out of the boat with them._

_Dressed in a grey leather trench coat and a black uniform, this one was much older. With slicked back spiky grey hair and a trimmed beard, the old man bore a lot of scars, a particularly long across his right eye._

_Other soldiers, wearing olive-drab officer uniforms, begin offloading cargo by the tons. Clearly seen are parts to long-range artillery, more armor and guns, mines, and boxes of material._

_However, the young man is quickly found after that, and the camera is left to record his subsequent execution at the hands of the younger man in the trench coat. Soon the camera runs out of power after several hours of recording the offloading cargo._

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"…Maleforth? That's not possible. I shot him at least three times." Germund gasped in disbelief as he saw the younger officer step out of the yacht.

"Synthetic Jenova Cells. Enabled him to come back, even after taking that many .308 rounds and the fall from Starrware." I responded matter-of-factly.

"Who's the old guy?" Thelonius asked curiously.

"General Elijah D. Constantine. Graduated from one of ShinRa's top military academies at the age of 15. Took part in the Wutai Invasion as a platoon leader, and was subsequently awarded for leading a daring assault into the main base of the enemy. Became General after the war ended, and ended up in SIPA's inner circles." I answered.

"That'd explain why he'd be in Wutai, and why he's working for the Enclave." Meredith commented.

"I'm more curious about that armor." Germund shook his head.

"It's Power Armor. After I was taken off the Subject Zero project, I began working with some of ShinRa's top minds in developing armor that would be invincible against standard attack and even artillery fire. However, the final project after I quit, as I believe, was deeply flawed. The suits required a lot of training to even wear and utilize properly, and the life support and muscle servo joints were extremely weak against EMP and electricity attack. However, the armor provided almost 91% protection against magic, physical attacks, and especially heat and radiation." I finally responded to his statement after a moment of silence.

"You think they might've perfected it?" Thelonius scratched his helmet.

"Probably. Offhand I think they could've improved it to at least 97%, and electricity resistance up by at least 15%. However, EMP will down someone in power armor instantly. The entire suit, including the helmet, weighs ever sixty pounds total. Even the strongest soldier in their special ops and infantry would need those support servos, or they would simply fall over or collapse under their own weight. Heat, gunfire, and melee weapons won't do shit against it. Another disadvantage, however, is their speed. Even with the servos, they're drastically slower at moving and practically unable to truly run in the armor. Not to mention, the backpack containing air purifiers for their helmets weighs ten pounds, and the minigun itself they were wielding weighs thirty pounds. So that's exactly one hundred pounds of gear, not including sidearms and ammunition." I continued quickly, typing furiously at the keyboard and pulling up old specifications for the Power Armor.

"Currently, that Power Armor seems to be Version 3.0, from your research. A small army of soldiers outfitted and trained with this could likely take five cities that are twice the size of Midgar with minimal losses. The question is why are they attacking a small town like Wutai?" Finn mused.

"Heidegger. I don't know where the other one is, but my sources tell me Heidegger may be located in Wutai after the 'Kel clone' started their little fight." Germund answered sordidly.

"They're going to wipe out an entire continent of people just to find one man?" Meredith was agape.

"Not going to happen. Wutai's small but ferocious pockets of resistance are extremely skilled in guerrilla warfare. In the forest, that Power Armor will be extremely unwieldy and at a disadvantage." I shook my head.

"Not quite. Rewind the tape to 4:20. Look at the weapon crates." Finn nudged me. After a moment of hesitation, I did so, and the words 'flamethrower' and 'high-grade fuel' were clearly stamped on the sides of those crates.

"They're going to take a slash-and-burn strategy. They're planning on just annihilating their way into the town." I closed my eyes in horror.

"Not many people outside of Midgar and the refugees know what happened. This transmission is going to trick people into joining the Enclave's 'good fight'. Soon, almost every nation could be flying the Enclave colors in support of destroying Wutai. Then they can simply conquer each of their allies one by one. Even now they'd probably be able to destroy the Deepground forces, or at least drive them back into their base." Meredith groaned.

"So why haven't they? Nobody would know more than Vicente and Elijah that the Enclave is likely the most organized and powerful government in the world, with a military to match." Germund noted.

"And why would they reveal their base's location so willingly? They just gave the entire world the location of their main military base!" Finn continued.

"They wouldn't give us that if they weren't 100% sure that they could blast any living or non-living thing that came within those limits they placed into Hell." Thelonius responded darkly.

"So what do we do?" Meredith asked quietly.

"We can't do anything. At most we have seven hours until they commence slash-and-burn operations. It'll take you four, even on your Steeds, over twenty hours to get across to Wutai. The place will be completely annihilated by then." I answered clearly, and typed at the keyboard.

"So what should we do instead?" Finn asked impatiently.

"…Try to gather intel from other places. I want to see how the propaganda is affecting other cities, and we can hope to whatever god there is that they don't buy into it and join the Enclave. Otherwise, very soon, my father will be in control of the most powerful military organization in the world. Ironically enough, the only ones who have a chance at stopping them if that happens is ShinRa, and the war is Deepground is lowering their probability scores every week by 4%." I finally answered after some hesitation.

"Alright. Let's go." After a few nods, the four left me to my own devices, shutting the door quietly.

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"…Meredith, I need you to find Kel." I asked as soon as the door shut.

"Finn…? What are you talking about?" She looked at me in confusion.

"The real one. We need all the help we can get, and the situation is worsening." I answered hurriedly, and turned to Germund and Thelonius.

"Germund, I need you to go to Midgar. I'm putting you on direct spy duty. Recon everything that's going on, and if anything strange happens I need you to tell me and Cynthia. Thelonius, I need you to start for Wutai. Any survivors will need help." I told them, and my orders were met with stern nods.

"What about you?" As I turned, Germund's raspy voice echoed towards me.

"I'm going to the ShinRa archives. It's time to find out the truth as to what the Enclave's hiding. When they were still SIPA, they would've recorded anything and everything there, and they might have hidden something." I responded, and summoned Dirge.

Mounting him, I turned to the others.

"We don't have much time, so all of us must hurry. Go, my comrades, and complete your mission!" I slapped the reins, and a streak of black energy was left behind as I disappeared into the night.

They nodded at each other and disappeared on their own steeds, leaving the street empty.

As the four left, a single man stood watching.

A man with black and slicked back hair. A man with an "E" symbol on his uniform.


	11. The Plan

"…And new recruits are coming in by the battalion. Our propaganda is working just as effectively as it predicted." The officer finished his report and sat down.

"Thank you, Colonel Saddow. As our colleague stated, the invasion of Wutai goes as planned. Already fifteen miles of woodland and obstructions have been cleared for the advance platoons and the power armor soldiers." I stood from my chair, saluting him as he sat.

I clicked a button, and the holographic map that covered almost all of the table focused on Wutai.

"As you well know, we deployed thirty fire units. So far, two groups have attempted resistance, and both were pacified and completely destroyed. The first was the remnants of AVALANCHE that still remained there, and the second were feeble-minded and poorly-armed nationalists. Thus, the strategy as Vicente put forth is working at 130% capacity, eliminating any possibilities of guerilla warfare and the disadvantages for the power armor units." I used a small laser pointer to mark points on the campaign map.

The others were nodding and forming their own opinions about this, and I finally gestured to the officer on my right.

"This is Admiral Coela Martinez, the primary commanding officer for all naval and air operations in the Enclave. She is also the founder of the newly formed black ops group, the Red Shadows. She initially put forth the suggestion to create a counter-Wutai military ops that would be able to combat any ninja-trained defenders. You have the floor, Admiral." I announced as she stood, and sat after I finished my speech.

"Thank you, Captain Wolf. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you another of our President's orders and plans. ahem…For a long time, President Vicente has been compiling a comprehensive list of enemies to our cause that must be removed. Allow me to post these names." She began, slipping a disk into the computer that operated the table hologram projector.

The map disappeared, replaced by a list of names.

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_Reeve Tuesti – Designer of Mako Reactors, PRIORITY TARGET_

_Barret – Leading member of AVALANCHE_

_Koto Kisaragi – Current leader of Wutai, PRIORITY TARGET_

_Yuffie Kisaragi – Materia thief, denizen of Wutai, daughter of Koto, PRIORITY TARGET_

_Vincent – Former Turk, Test Subject, Location Unknown_

_Cait Sith – Robot, associated with Reeve Tuesti, regarded as highly dangerous_

_Red XIII – Location unknown, former incarcerate of ShinRa_

_Rally – Possible member of AVALANCHE, PRIORITY TARGET_

_Lecter – Unknown, responsible for acts of terrorism, prime suspect for Paradox events, KILL ON SIGHT_

_Sephiroth – SOLDIER Class 1, top swordsman, possibly most successful to have bonded with Jenova cells, KILL ON SIGHT, HIGH PRIORITY_

_Cynthia Gordon – International cyberterrorist, former inventor at ShinRa, President's daughter, HIGH PRIORITY TARGET_

_William Finn – First successful experiment with raw mako, first SOLDIER, classified as Death, HIGH PRIORITY TARGET, KILL ON SIGHT_

_Germund Jackson – Second successful experiment with raw mako, second SOLDIER, classified as Pestilence, HIGH PRIORITY TARGET, KILL ON SIGHT_

_Meredith Dent – Third successful experiment with raw mako, first female SOLDIER, first to be infused with Jenova Cells, classified as Famine, HIGH PRIORITY TARGET, KILL ON SIGHT_

_Thelonius Caesar – Fourth successful experiment with raw mako, first to go into active duty, highest known body count, classified as War, HIGH PRIORITY TARGET, KILL ON SIGHT_

_Kelvis Clone – Test Subject Zero, possible AVALANCHE member, known terrorist, wanted for questioning over mass murder by ShinRa, HIGH PRIORITY TARGET_

_Kelvis "1" – Original of the "Zero" project, discovered in CLASSIFIED, original traveler responsible for Paradox, HIGHEST PRIORITY, KILL ON SIGHT_

_Don Corneo – Crime lord, ShinRa informant, DECEASED_

_Jenkins Ralon – ShinRa communications expert, very distant family to Rufus Shinra, DECEASED_

_Raul Tejada – Oracle Informant, technician, hacker, repairman, DECEASED_

_Professor Hojo – ShinRa genetics expert, responsible for Sephiroth, DECEASED_

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"Obviously, this is only a preliminary list. He predicts that roughly seventy names will be on this roster total. And that is only assassination targets." She finally spoke after five minutes of silent reading.

"Wait, I don't remember Corneo being dead. Haven't heard from him since the plate dropped." One of the officers commented.

"Exactly. And that was weeks ago. As per standards and the situation, the Don has been declared a deceased target." She answered matter-of-factly.

"Figure the two Kisaragi targets shouldn't be difficult. After all, we're dropped a full armada on their hometown." Another snickered evilly, and the some others burst into laughter.

"Yuffie has been confirmed as being completely absent from her homeland, and therefore I have deployed roughly two hundred of the Shadows to scour the other islands to locate other targets and her. In a matter of interest, a smaller town far from the cities has been of interest. Gongonga or something similar, I believe. Two of my most elite spies have already been there on surveillance for the past week. When the report gets back, we'll know for sure what's going on there." The dark and businesslike admiral continued, and one officer rose a hand.

"Admiral, I have a question. The refugee city, the one from Midgar. I think it's called "Edge". What if they start telling the world about what really happened?" He began.

"You're precisely correct about that problem. That is why we must convert the ignorant and quickly. It is far more profitable and easy to convince someone to your side in their ignorance than to force the matter with heavy artillery, scourges, and annihilation." She nodded with a devious smile.

_And of course, it'll be too easy to convince the others to annihilate Edge as the "other" terrorists._

"The President agrees with this course of action, so we will continue as so until something else comes up." Her closing words merited applause from the others, including me.

**Soon…Wutai would fall**


	12. The Invasion of Wutai

"_During the months of the Enclave's rise under President Vicente, no operation and no mission came near as close to importance and impact as Operation Maelstrom. Over three hundred power armor-wearing and heavy weaponry wielding Hellfire troops, twenty-six heavy artillery guns, and five hundred infantry units bombarded and completely destroyed the city of Wutai._

_It was only a week before the operation that Vicente announced that Wutai was harboring ShinRa's Turk commander, Heidegger, and that we were going in to destroy the terrorists and the bastard that helped cause this mess._

_I was Unit #177 of the Hellfire Corp, and was among the first five troops to disembark the ESW Virtue. _

_I remember the first day like it was almost yesterday. The heat, the panic, and the blood…everywhere as we marched through the seaport, gunning down any civilians and security that we saw._

_Whatever doubts, whatever traitorous thoughts any of us had, were forgotten, any morality and truth lost in the gunfire._

_Soon, all that mattered was orders and killing."_

_-Unknown Enclave Hellfire Trooper, Personal Diary #12 _

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_*GZZZT* This is Alpha Leader. We are green. *GZZT*_

_*GZZT* This is Beta Leader. We are green. *GZZT*_

_*GZZT* This is Maleforth. We are green. *GZZT*_

_*GZZT* This is Artillery Command. We are green. *GZZT_

_*GZZT* This is General Elijah. All units are to commence Operation Maelstrom after artillery is finished. Artillery…COMMENCE FIRE! *GZZT*_

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Time almost slowed to a stop as the first of the guns fired, each unloading about thirty pounds of shrapnel-bearing explosive shells into the small town.

Each flash lit the night for less than a second, the sound deafening to us. However, to them it was deadly. Just within the first shots several buildings were blown into nothing but matchsticks, and the town was set aflame.

Ten minutes of bombardment passed before Elijah gave the order to stop. Then it was the Hellfire Corp's turn.

Several dozen troops lumbered into the town's outskirts, clad in giant black armor with glowing yellow eye slits on the helmets, and wielding massive weaponry that ranged from missile launchers to miniguns to materia-using guns.

Survivors staggered out onto the streets, clutching shrapnel wounds that poured blood and ensured slow but painful deaths.

The minute they were in range, the Hellfire troops opened fire. Thousands of 5mm bullets, materia blasts, and other ordinance ripped into the crowds of survivors like knives into heated butter, blood painting the walls and shredded flesh flying through the air.

Others took aim and sent their payloads of powerful rockets into the streets and into the buildings, causing further destruction and chaos.

Those who weren't killed instantly began fleeing the other way, hoping to escape the figurative tsunami of death. However, they were quickly cut down by unseen assailants, assassins dressed in tight black armor and visored masks that wielded dual ninja swords and were capable of turning invisible.

The main pagoda opened, and the resistance burst out towards the Hellfire Corp like a stream of rage towards a rushing river of destruction.

However, they were downed as well before they could even reach the troops, snipers with three green-glowing goggle visors and gillie suits hidden in the all-seeing tall trees.

Minutes of death and annihilation passed before the main infantry arrived, several hundred soldiers arrived as well. Wearing the latest in military gear and using state-of-the-art weapons, they also made short work of the tiny remnants of the resistance that Wutai offered.

And then he arrived.

Maleforth, second-in-command to the President himself.

Leading a squadron of the Red Shadow assassins he walked onto the battlefield, decapitating and killing several targets that crossed his path.

For when he drew his sword, despair consumed those who remained. The blackened longsword burst into flame as he drew it, the fire searing any foolish enough to come within range.

The city would fall only within an hour of destruction and death, with only one survivor and soon to be prisoner.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"W-What…have you DONE!?" A strong but horrified voice echoed throughout the burning town.

I turned to face the speaker, who was standing just in front of the wrecked pagoda that towered over the others.

"Godo Kisaragi…the town and nation of Wutai has been condemned of terrorism and treason against the true government of Gaia, the Enclave. For this, President Vicente Gordon has ordered the immediate destruction of this town, and the execution of all of its inhabitants. You, as the leader of Wutai and the indisputable cause of atrocities such as the fall of Midgar's Sector 7 Plate, which killed hundreds of innocents, the fall of the city into chaos, and the subsequent disorganization and eventual dismantling of the ShinRa Electric and Power Company, will be taken and tried in court, presided over by the President himself. You will be convicted and executed for ALL OF GAIA TO SEE!" I drew my flaming sword as I spoke and pointed it at him, my group of Red Shadows drawing their own in preparation.

"Terroism?! Treason?! My country has never committed any crimes! You have killed innocent people on charges without evidence or cause! Your Enclave is a false government!" He roared, drawing a sword of his own and charging at me with the blade.

I smiled as I readied myself.

**Special BGM – The Witch King of Angmar - Lord of the Rings: Return of the King**

"Old man, you will die for your crimes!" I sent him flying several feet back onto the ground with a roundhouse kick, and phased in front of him.

"You will pay for what you've done!" His anguish was clear, and thus his distraction. That weakened him and gave me an advantage.

He rolled back onto his feet, and attacked me with a flurry of blows with his sword. Each was parried just as easily as the next, and I quickly gained the upper hand with several beatings from my free hand and the sword itself.

"Still trying the same tricks? You're not going to win that way!" I easily parried a similar set of attacks, and kicked him back another few feet. It was clear, even to those just watching me fight him, that he wasn't going to last any longer.

"ARRRGGHHH!" With a final surge of energy, however, he threw his sword at the last second as I lunged, the blade impaling itself into my chest like a spear.

"Gaahh!" I gasped and fell to the ground, the force of the weapon enough to change my direction.

"…Ah…agh…" His breathing was hard, and his face was covered in blood and bruises. As he approached me, I continued wheezing, pulling the sword out of my body and clutching the wound.

"The Enclave will pay for what they've done, starting with you!" He grabbed the sword and rose it above his head, aiming it straight at my head.

As the soldiers moved to assist me, I smiled.

"Is that all you can come up with? A sword to the chest and a promise of revenge?" I launched a powerful kick, one that struck him directly in the belly and dropping him.

As he tried to force air back into his lungs from the wind I knocked out of him, I retrieved my sword and leaned down next to him.

"You really think you had a chance? We were trained in your combat. Nothing you could've done would've changed how this ended. Even my infantry could've outmatched you." I whispered, low enough for only the two of us to hear, and took his sword.

"I know it'll be painful, but don't worry. We'll have your daughter soon enough, Godo." I winked at him evilly, and his eyes widened in shock.

"She'll come either dead or alive. Personally, I'm hoping _dead_!" I burst out into laughter, joined by the others, as two Hellfire soldiers brought him to his feet, cuffed him, and began dragging him off.

Just as they did, a helicopter-like machine, called a vertibird, landed nearby. Elijah stepped out with a diabolical smile on his face.

"You took the town, killed all inhabitants, and captured the target. You really do live up to your reputation, Maleforth. Reminds me of how Vicente was when he was a colonel." The old general whistled, nudging a dead body with his boots.

"What can I say…it runs in the family." I smiled at him knowingly, and twirled my sword.

On it, a single sentence was etched into the blackened metal and untouched by the flames that constantly bathed it.

"_For Nick, my beloved older brother. May this sword keep you safe in the line of duty. –Cynthia E. Gordon_


	13. The Truth

_Despite all my doubts about the accuracy of the information…despite my hope that I was mistaken…I was not mistaken._

_The truth was staggering._

_And unbeknownst to us…it would undo all of us._

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What remained of the ShinRa archives was several collapsed vaults and record rooms, having been looted heavily by the Enclave before the Midgar rebellion.

But I knew what I was looking for, and it was intact.

Carefully but forcefully breaking the fortified steel door that had protected SOLDIER Record Room #0 from the initial battles between ShinRa security and SIPA operatives, I stepped inside.

A single disk remained inside the main case. The same disk I was searching for.

"The Four Horsemen Project…there you are." I read the label on the case, and smashed the glass in such a way that the disk wouldn't be harmed in the slightest.

"_Finn, you there?_" I heard Germund's voice rasp through the cell phone function mounted to my wristband.

"Yeah. I found what we're looking for." I responded, slipping out a small laptop.

"_That's good. Meredith and I have been keeping an eye on Midgar. Nothing's going on there, but there are major problems going on in other places. That Lecter guy has openly declared war…Midgar is wrecked and nearly destroyed. Thelonius decided to change gears, and he managed to get a few survivors out of the battlefield. Unfortunately, it looks like the Enclave held to their promise._" Germund answered, giving a full report.

"…They killed everyone." I finished darkly.

"_Not everyone. They captured Godo Kisaragi, Yuffie's father and ruler of Wutai. They're taking him to Crow's Peak, a former ShinRa prison. Now it's a heavily fortified Enclave base near that amusement park._" He corrected briefly.

"…Deliver your report to Cynthia…but don't mention what we're doing, as I've said." I finally told him after a few minutes of silence.

"_Copy that. See you back home._" He responded affirmatively, and the phone clicked off.

"…What is the truth about us, SIPA? Time to find out." I slid the disk into the laptop, and activated the program.

Only a single video was on the disk. Clicking it brought up a warning that it was top secret information, and that I had to click 'Y' or 'N' to continue or leave. I hesitated as my gloved fingers brushed against the "Y" key…and finally clicked the button.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

_-ShinRa DataLog Report #1-_

_This is Cynthia Elizabeth Gordon. This is my first day at the Company doing what I've always wanted to do…pure research._

_Despite the politics and all that are often rife throughout the ShinRa corporation's ranks, the labs are comparatively and amazingly peaceful._

_My colleagues respect me but don't envy or hate me, despite the fact my father is a high ranking Turk and my brother is in that new SOLDIER program._

_Hopefully I—(DATA CORRUPTED)_

_ShinRa DataLog Report #3_

_Well…it's been three days I've been working here, and things are progressing well._

_I built a small drone to assist me, and I'm calling him Darius so far._

_They put me on some major project today as well…I'm supposed to help build some sort of customized armor._

_They gave me the measurements and lengths and all…the subject's name is Thelonius Caesar. He apparently sustained major burn wounds from being caught in some explosion._

_I wonder what it was—(DATA CORRUPTED)_

_ShinRa DataLog Report #32_

_It's been a while since I recorded a full DataLog._

_I'm starting to have doubts about this place. The professional exteriors that surround this place are…sugarcoated at best._

_Workplace relationships, hazardous accidents…even in the field such accidents happen constantly._

_I hope my apprehensions aren't as accurate as I think._

_ShinRa DataLog Report #33_

_(DATA CORRUPTED)_

_ShinRa DataLog Report #44_

_A young woman came in today. Her skin was pure white, and covered in scars._

_Her name was Meredith Dent._

_She was a guinea pig for viruses and all sorts of experiments in the genetics department._

_I was requested to build a suit for her. She's going to go through the final stages of the SOLDIER process._

_If it works, she'll be the (DATA CORRUPTED) SOLDIER to be made._

_Despite them saying she was a trained killer…I saw something else in her eyes._

_Pain._

_ShinRa DataLog Report #167_

_Much time has passed since I first started here._

_This is the first time I've been able to record information about some of my experiments, so I might as well take advantage of it._

_Thelonius…Meredith…Finn…Germund…_

_Four soldiers under ShinRa's employ._

_I was chosen to lead the Four Horsemen Project._

_Finally something that suits my talents, but…_

_My four pet projects aren't as perfect as I'd envisioned…but they'll be enough to overwrite Wheatley's recent success with the Lobotomite surgeries._

_At least things aren't as bad for me as it is for others._

_I wonder how my sister is doing back home in Midgar._

_Mom died during the plague…Dad…Dad isn't Dad anymore. Ever since he became friends with the President, he's been different. Nick…Nick's been different as well. Ever since he lost his leg in some terrorist organization's attack, he's been quieter. Even after I gave him the artificial leg…he doesn't come and visit anymore._

_His birthday gift will cheer him up though._

_He'll be able to say that he's the only one in the ShinRa military to have a sword that is on fire!_

_ShinRa DataLog Report #185_

_Failure…so much failure._

_The unrestrained free will in a subject resulted in major problems._

_The Four Horsemen Project is a failure._

_I didn't have the heart to tell Finn and the other three._

_Better if it's quick._

_They're being sent on what they assume is their first real assignment._

_It's actually just a test to see whether they would follow orders, at any cost._

_The others think they'll do it, but I know otherwise._

_I know William, Meredith, Thelonius, and Germund._

_They won't be able to kill those innocents._

_So I ordered safeties off for the security perimeter._

_If…__when__ they refuse to kill the targets…the teams will open fire. Even they can't survive that kind of barrage._

_ShinRa DataLog Report #186_

_I'm in serious hot water._

_They failed to die, and now are causing massive damage to the corporation, both to their faith in me, and in money._

_The only good news for me is that they don't remember who I am. I specifically ensured they wouldn't be able to imprint on me after the Mako baths changed them. So they won't be after me anytime soon._

_I've been taken off Genetics permanently._

_Apparently, I'm being moved over to Wheatley's department as well. Afterwards, I was duly informed of the mounting casualties that have ensued from the Turks attempting to recapture the "Four Horsemen"._

_People are being massacred…_

_And it's all my fault._

_W-Wh…What have I done?..."Sob"_

_ShinRa DataLog Report #196_

_It's been a little over a week since I've been transferred._

_Progress has been made with the Power Armor Project, thanks to my apparent skill with such machinery._

_News of the Four Horsemen have settled into nothingness._

_Although…something is wrong._

_Whispers are spreading._

_I…I think these may be my last few days working for the corporation._

_If so…that means these are the last days of my life._

_If anyone…if anyone ever listens to these logs…I'm (Data Corrupted)_

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The logs stopped finally.

It was quiet throughout the wrecked archives.

I shut the laptop slowly, and stood silently.

Looking up, I finally opened my eyes.

"…Nothing…more than a pet project…?" I muttered under my breath, and the room began shaking. Small rocks and files began levitating in the air.

My eyes turned pure black as I dropped the laptop, the fragile computer shattering as it hit the floor.

"…A pet…PROJECT!?" I roared finally, and a single wing sprouted on my right side, but made of blackened bone and nothing more. I drew my scythe, and the force of my roar ripping through the walls with the sheer force of my rage.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!" I screamed, my mind consumed with fury as I ascended to the skies and tore through the wrecked facility.

In seconds, the large ShinRa building exploded in a spectacular mushroom cloud that was seen miles away. A shockwave rocked the ground, quakes ripping open the earth beneath me as the entire facility collapsed into an enormous crater and the land was ravaged for half a mile around me.

With a quick look around, I burst into flight, breaking the sound barrier in seconds, towards Edge. Nothing but rage controlled me.


	14. No True Despair Without Hope

"Finn, calm down!" Thelonius was barely able to hold William as I tried, in vain, to reach him through my words.

"NO! SHE WILL PAY FOR WHAT SHE'S DONE TO US!" He roared, throwing Thelonius like a toy to the side.

"What do you mean?" Germund stood in front of him, the only thing between him and the city of Edge, only a few miles away.

"What has Cynthia done to us?" I asked, suddenly curious as to why my comrade, usually the calm one, was so angered.

"She was the one who created us!" He spat, Germund and I exchanging worried looks.

"Cynthia…created us?" He asked carefully.

"She was the one who selected us for the original project! She was the one who sent us on that mission to kill innocents! She planned our deaths there!" Finn screamed, throwing aside his scythe.

"Calm down! Germund…is…is this true?" I tried again to calm him, but my voice was already shaken.

"I-I…I do not know." He was equally shocked, but Finn had already begun calming down to the point of civilized conversation.

"Yes, it is true. If you would trust me, I can prove it right now. She will admit it to me." Finn promised, harsh anger in his voice still.

"…Alright. Let's go see Cynthia." I answered, unable to process or think about what this implicated.

"Yes…let's." Thelonius reappeared, sheathing his sword. His tone was rife with suspicion and already anger.

We looked at the last member to answer, Germund.

"…I…agree. Let us hear Cynthia." He finally spoke after a minute of clear shock and muddled thought.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Okay…Raul, just continue working on it. I'm not sure what caused the quake that destroyed the SIPA archives, but I know it's not natural." I spoke into the headset, typing furiously at the computer.

"_You got it, boss. Gotta go_." He confirmed my order, and he hung up.

The sound of my door opening caught my attention, and I did a quick one-eighty with my wheelchair.

Finn, Meredith, Germund, and Thelonius awaited my gaze.

All four looked angry.

"…So it's today." I sighed, wheeling towards them.

"You made us…and you left us to die." Germund suddenly spoke, his normally calm voice full of hurt and distrust.

"You made us into monstrosities." Meredith continued, her voice just as hurt and angry as Germund's.

"You made us into weapons." Thelonius added, his voice full of anger.

"I…I tried to turn you into forces for good—" I began, but Finn cut me off, kicking my wheelchair with such force that I was sent rolling back to the computer desk.

"YOU TURNED US INTO FREAKS! MONSTERS!" He roared angrily, his eyes glowing a deep black.

"Cynthia, we thought you were of a common goal. Destroying the tyrant ShinRa and making the world a free place. A better place. But you're no different than they are." Meredith seethed, drawing her daggers.

"I-It is! But…But—" I stammered, trying to defend myself.

"But what? WHAT?" Finn demanded with nothing but loathing in his voice.

"I…I tried to do good…but…but there comes a time when the laws…the good in the world that was supposed to be a weapon to fight evil…become shackles…weapons for the bad people to get ahead, slowing us down. When that time comes, you'll understand why I did what I had to do!" I yelled back, and he ripped off half of his mask in response, shocking me to no end.

Under the silver face that everyone knew him by, little remained of what was William Finn. A skull took his place, black eyes sunk into the eyes of this horrific tragedy that was once human.

"You…have no right. No right to justify what you've done. It's time to face your sins, Gordon. Once and for all." He spoke quietly now, but the loathing had not subsided. I barely had time to react as he pulled out one of his .45's and emptied the cartridge into me.

The agony when I was shot that day in the back…it was nothing compared to when these bullets entered my shoulder, my useless legs, even my stomach.

"AGGGH! AGGGH!" I screamed in excruciation as blood poured out of my body, staining my black leather trench coat dark red and pinning me against my chair's seat.

"Cynthia Gordon…you turned us into monsters. You used us for your own ends. And for that, you will receive your judgment and your just reward. Despite your goals and your claims, you're no different than ShinRa…or your father, for that matter. But we're not going to kill you. Do you know why?" He approached me, leaned down, and began whispering in my ear.

"F-Finn…ga…h…" I gasped, blood flowing out of my mouth as I tried to speak.

"Everything I've experienced…every horrific circumstance, every atrocity…I've learned something from it. I remember crawling through the brush of Wutai, the heat…the blood…the death. But most of all, I remember seeing that damn fort. That fort was hope. Dozens of us went for the fort, hoping to be the one to take it and be released from this hell. And every one of us died. Picked off by ninjas and snipers. And so I was taught that there can be no true despair…not without hope." He continued, and turned my chair to face the monitor.

Ripping off my earpiece, he used a length of rope to tie my arms down to the wheelchair.

"So you will watch. You will watch as your world dies. As your dreams dissolve into nothingness, Cynthia. I'll hunt down your pathetic boyfriend…and you'll watch as he dies as the dog he is. And only then…only as your hopes and your dreams die…only then will you have my permission to die." He smiled as he finished the last torturous sentence.

"W-What…are…you going…to do?" I whispered, my injuries reducing me to the bare minimum of speech.

"I'm going to fulfill my Mother's destiny, of course. That weak and false prophet Sephiroth could never do what I'm going to do. This Planet…will die." He answered quietly, and I felt my vision dimming as the sounds of his footsteps receding echoed throughout the room.


	15. The Survivors

"Okaaay…we've got more people from Edge coming in…Robert, would you mind getting them settled in with Group 3A?" She spoke absentmindedly, spotting a group of refugees coming into the camp for the first time.

"I'm on it, Asura…we got any space in 7L? I got a message from Reno that we've got more people from Midgar coming in." Robert responded quickly, putting down a stack of papers and a duffle bag.

"Hmm…yeah, we've got room for another few families. Let me know when they arrive." Asura nodded, concentrating on a heavily marked map of Gaia and writing down notes on it.

"…This isn't good, Ethan. We've got the ShinRa-Deepground conflict going on in the north and east, and the Enclave is to the west and south. We're surrounded, and the only thing stopping us from being overrun is the fact we're fairly well-hidden. But all it'll take is one scout spotting us and reporting, and we're history." She muttered to the young man nearby, who was also busy marking a map.

"I know. AVALANCHE has gone offline on the radio signals, and I can't get ahold of Barret due to the Enclave jamming phone signals in this area." Ethan nodded irritably, quickly taking notes from a report.

"…Asura, this just got in. Edge was almost wiped out by some biomechanical weaponry and air support. It sounds pretty bad up there." Someone else called down from a higher platform, taking notes from a telegraph message.

"Damn it! That means we're even more screwed in the north. Ethan, we may have to consider moving ahead of schedule with the exodus." She swore, marking the map even more furiously.

"I heard…I'll start taking notes and more on what we can do." He groaned, rubbing his eyes with tired sighs.

"Good…oh, that's great! We've got someone from the Network coming in! Someone make sure to get the guy over here, we've got to talk!" Asura exclaimed with an irritable tone.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"…Raul, why don't you just retire, you stubborn old bastard?" I muttered as I climbed the final hill, my old and dying knees begging for mercy, and entered the secret refugee camp situated against the mountains that opened into the Grasslands area of the Midgar-Junon continent.

I knew why, of course, but it didn't hurt to ask.

As I took a look at the now-huge camp, it was understandable as to why Asura wanted to move so quickly.

Several dozen family-sized tents were gathered up against the mountainside, a makeshift watchtower built into the side as well. Several platforms made up the curious design of the tower, each manned by radio operators, watchmen, and the occasional sniper.

Near the top was where I knew Asura was.

_Curious girl._

_Orphaned at six, she was one of the vagrants of Sector 07. Always known for helping her fellow misfits and homeless people._

_Barely 14 now, she was the one who started the refugee camp, being a survivor of the Midgar Sector 07 Plate incident._

_She had been inspired by that Kel kid's speech, and set up this group to help people escape the war zone and find their lost families and such._

_Being quite a bit shorter than most adults around here, I was surprised to learn she was the leader of the whole thing._

_Her sense of fashion was just as curious, considering she was a city-dweller._

_Her hair was bright white and cut short and spiky, her skin a tan color, almost as if she spent all her time at a beach somewhere. Her breasts were barely developing, but she was fairly well endowed for her age at this point._

_Her eyes are light purple, giving a hint to her exposure to mako poisoning at a young age. She's one of the few to survive it, considering she contracted it at the age of five, and that she suffered no ill effects afterward._

_Her clothing was strange for a city-dweller._

_Her chosen outfit was always dark blue, white, and very baggy, shorts that went past her knees just barely, with a pair of brown belts wrapped around her waist neatly, simple brown and red boots that barely had much actual coverage past the feet, and a quite difficult piece of upper clothing to describe. It was completely shoulderless, and exposed the area above her waist all the way around her body, only beginning above her navel. Mostly white, the upper part of the shirt was the same dark blue color as the shorts, and had a dull gold border. However, the shirt connected to short but baggy sleeves that went around her arms just after her shoulders._

_Her accessories were sparse, consisting of a brown leather choker-like band around her neck, an intricate necklace from which several carved wooden symbols hung over her exposed midriff, just above her breasts, the aforementioned belts, a brown armband on her left arm that was bordered with orange, and finally a brown set of fingerless gloves she wore on her right hand._

_Asura was an interesting girl, indeed._

_Always willing to help, and putting the needs of her refugees above her own. A very bright and talented young woman, but very absentminded…unless it comes to a fight. Then she's very, very good at remembering._

_Some said that she was a failed candidate for the SOLDIER program a few years back, and that was why she had such strange eyes. I, myself, had always noticed that she had almost inhuman speed and reflexes at times._

_But, SOLDIER or not, she was the best hand-to-hand combatant in Gaia._

_This girl was but fourteen, yet nobody could beat her in a fair and unarmed battle._

_But only a select few knew the truth._

_Which was me, her, Cynthia, and the Four Horsemen._

_Asura was, in actuality, a Cetra. More commonly known as an Ancient._

_For a long time Cynthia had thought Aerith Gainsborough was the only one._

_But, when this girl was found and the White Materia in her was discovered…it was chaos. She knew that ShinRa would dissect her if they had an inkling that she was special. So, she spread the rumor that she was a former SOLDIER candidate and used to have Mako poisoning._

_And insisted on training her in combat._

_The Cetra were an interesting race, to be sure._

_Unlike the pacifistic Aerith, Asura was completely okay with being in a fight, and had extensive combat training._

_Not to mention, the two have no resemblance to each other, lending credit to the theory Cynthia made that the Cetra were multi-raced as well._

_But she refuses to be a Cetra. She chose to remain "just human" and not use her gifts, although Cynthia claimed that she has the White Materia too._

_Not once has Asura ever used Materia of any sort, and I doubt she ever will._

_She also swore an oath of abstinence to "ensure nobody else would deal with this problem, as I have", thus ensuring that Aerith and Asura would be the last Cetra for a very long time, if not forever._

_But we had to make sure that she would remain undiscovered and safe._

_Which is the exact reason as to why I was here._

As I climbed the tower, I saw the very person I'd come to see.

"Asura!" I greeted her warmly, and she hugged me, a grin on her face.

"Uncle! I had been so busy, I hadn't remembered you were coming today!" She chuckled. I had strangely forgotten her penchant for calling me "uncle", due to the fact I saved her more than once on the way to Edge from Midgar.

"I figured as much. The amount of people here has tripled since last I visited. How many are there now?" I studied the tents set up so far below us.

"About eight hundred now…and at least two hundred are on the way here now." She answered with a giddy smile.

"A thousand, huh? Where are you headed with all these people?" I asked jokingly.

"Hopefully somewhere safe…away from the Enclave, ShinRa, and Deepground." She answered sadly, leaning on the railing overlooking the camp.

"I see. How do you intend to do such a thing?" I sighed quietly.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to give up. We're alive, and every second we've got is a blessing. We owe it to those who didn't get out in time to live life to the fullest, not die in the crossfire between these bastards." She responded tacitly, rubbing her armband out of habit.

"Well, I don't know exactly how…but if you ever need help, just let me know…and I'll be there, Asura." I patted her on the back, and she smiled at me.

Something about her smile…always cheered me up. Even when I was down. I met Aerith once…and she had the same effect.

As weird as it sounded…it was enough to make me smile. And I rarely ever smiled anymore.

"So…should we go on to your HQ?" I asked, breaking the thoughts that distracted me.

"Oh, of course! Just this way, up the rails….mind the third step, it's loose. Already got someone in the medical barracks because of that…" She snapped out of her deep thoughts, and led me further up the makeshift tower.

Hopefully Cynthia didn't need anything important, because I was going to be here a while.


End file.
